Field of the Disclosure
Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronic device and a wireless network access method in the electronic device in which wireless network access information is provided to obtain access to the wireless network.
Description of the Related Art
The development of electronic devices with wireless communication capability continues to advance, particularly in the area of portable and handheld electronic devices. The proliferation of such electronic devices has also spearheaded developments related to accessing a wireless network for a wireless network service.
The wireless network may include, for example, a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) such as 3rd-Generation (3G), 4th-Generation (4G), or Long Term Evolution (LTE), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) such as Bluetooth®, and the like. The electronic device may be conveniently provided with various services such as an Internet service, a communication service, and so forth, by using the wireless network. For example, the wireless network may be used wherever the user moves the portable device so long as they are within a communication range of the network. Such places that a wireless network would be used would include at home, in companies, or in public places where an electronic device is often used, and the electronic device may use the wireless network by accessing the wireless network at permitted locations.
The wireless network may be opened to use by any electronic device, but such use may be configured as being restricted to permitted electronic devices that are granted access by using wireless network access information such as a password.
The electronic device often receives wireless network access information as an input from a user of the electronic device in order to use the wireless network. For example, the user may select a network, then input wireless network access information that was previously setup with or received from the particular network.
Thus, the electronic device may easily receive the wireless network access information from the user if the user knows the wireless network access information that needs to be input, but if the user does not know the wireless network access information, the user has to be provided first with the wireless network access information from a wireless network access provider or another party knowing the wireless network access information. However, as there is no other way conventionally to access the wireless network than via reception of the wireless network access information manually input from the user, this drawback often causes a great deal of inconvenience.
For example, the wireless network access information is nonpublic information like a password and is often shared only by a limited number of users in order to maintain security with respect the limited users and to prevent unauthorized access. Nevertheless, heretofore there has not been a scheme proposed to share the wireless network access information in a manner for maintaining security other than the conventional entry of network access information.
The wireless network provider for providing the wireless network may limit users who use the wireless network with the wireless network access information, but no such method exists in the conventional art to control the use of the wireless network for each user other than conventional entry of network access information.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.